School-based substance use prevention programs: why do effects decay?
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Adolescent↗
Biomedical subjects
G Botvin
Publications and source records attributed to G Botvin.
Substance use among Hispanic and non-Hispanic adolescents.
This study compared lifetime prevalence data on substance use with demographic and psychosocial variables among 2,821 Hispanic and non-Hispanic white students from two Southwestern cities. Study findings revealed that ethnic-racial background factors were not the strongest predictors of substance use. Rather, when the analyses accounted for school grades and for maternal education, non-Hispanic youth had higher lifetime substance use rates than Hispanic youth. Study findings suggest that preventive intervention and treatment efforts for substance abuse problems among adolescents should consider sociodemographic risk factors as well as ethnic-racial factors.
Adolescent↗
Predictors of smoking prevalence among New York Latino youth.
BACKGROUND: We examined prevalence rates and risk factors for smoking among Latino adolescents, using a multiethnic sample of sixth- and seventh-grade students (n = 3129) in 47 New York City public and parochial schools. METHODS: The students completed questionnaires; self-reported smoking data were collected by means of the "bogus pipeline" technique. The largest group of Latino students (43%) was Puerto Rican; 20% were of Dominican background, 7% were Colombian, and 7% were Ecuadorian. "Current smoking" was defined as smoking at least once per month. RESULTS: A series of logistic regression analyses indicated that peer influence was the strongest predictor of smoking. Family influence was important as well. CONCLUSIONS: The results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention.
Adolescent↗
Defining "success" in drug abuse prevention.
The ultimate measure of success in drug abuse prevention obviously and unequivocally must be to reduce the incidence of drug abuse among our nation's youth. However, the problem of drug abuse in our society is complex, and does not lend itself to facile solutions or "quick fixes." Because of the distance between where we are now and where we have yet to go, success should be viewed as a process involving a series of mostly minor victories. Benchmarks, such as the ones suggested in this paper, can provide a means of charting and assessing our progress. When viewed from this perspective, it becomes clear that we have made considerable progress over the past decade--progress that has been painfully slow but steady. Yet, much remains to be done. In view of the importance and magnitude of the task involved in reducing drug abuse incidence in our society and the failures of past prevention efforts, it is important that we recognize the accomplishments of the field--that we stand up and cheer in celebration of each victory, however small, as we move forward in the development of effective prevention approaches.
Adolescent↗